Italy gets tough with foreign terrorists as they simply ignore Euro judges deport fanatics back to their own country, Britain should follow suit

Dear All

Human rights are a good thing, but problems arise when human rights are used to escape justice.

When a person has human rights they also have human responsibilities, human rights a frame work on how to live decently in society.

Terrorists and their supporters use human rights as a barrier and as such we have seen terrorists and their sympathisers being unable to deport them from the UK.

It is that human rights legislation is wrong; it is because we don’t have better judges.

In the main; Terrorists et al have used Article 8 as a loophole.

ARTICLE 8;

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Under Article 8.2, we have the grounds to deport foreign nationals that we deem are a threat to the people of this country.

But for years, successive governments have insisted that extremist preacher Abu Qatada cannot be kicked out of Britain, claiming it would breach his human rights.

That is not true.

Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights admitted it is effectively powerless to intervene in the case of a convicted terrorist deported by the Italians.

The Strasbourg court however has ordered that compensation be paid to Mohamed Mannai, who was sent home to Tunisia in 2010 in breach of a court order.

I think we can all live with that, but it also reinforces my point that I recently blogged on that human rights needs to be revisited and enhanced.

A spokesman for the Strasbourg Court said:

“Once the applicant has been deported there is nothing much we can do because he is in Tunisia, a country that is not part of the European Court of Human Rights.”

Extremist preacher Abu Qatada who resides in Britain should be deported; he represents a threat to our society and should be removed. Although the right to liberty is recognised in human rights, even human rights campaigners recognise that people if convicted can be locked, there are exceptions to the rule.

In the case of extremist preacher Abu Qatada, we aren’t talking about deporting someone on the basis of we don’t like him, that would be wrong and highly unethical, no, Qatada is a hatemonger.

The Government has argued the radical Islamist was described by a judge as Osama Bin Laden’s right hand man in Europe cannot be removed to his home country of Jordan because of an ECHR judgment.

It is time to take a leaf out of the Italians handbook, deporting terrorists and those who are a danger sends out a strong message, if you play by the rules then you will be treated fairly, if you do not then you will be deported and no excuses will be accepted.

The English Court’s judges said Qatada could not hope to receive a fair trial if deported because it would likely be based on evidence obtained by torture. This isn’t a fact but it does show how perverted justice has become, judgment must be based solely on evidence, not subjective opinion which has no basis in fact.

Clairvoyance has no legal basis in law.

Dominic Raab, Tory MP for Esher and Walton, said:

“The Italian and French governments have a track record of ignoring Strasbourg in deportation cases where there is a risk of torture with precious little consequence. In the Qatada case, Strasbourg went well beyond existing human rights law. Having bent over backwards to accommodate this flawed ruling, we now need to put him on a flight to Jordan without delay.”

Being a Tory, we can only speculate if he understands human rights, as Tories generally aren’t open to reason where political opportunism is concerned.

In the case of Mohamed Mannai, he was jailed for five years and four months in October 2006 after he and two other men, thought to be linked to radical group Ansar al-Islam, were convicted on terror charges.

Police said the cell planned attacks in Italy and brainwashed recruits to act as suicide bombers.

After Mannai’s conviction, the Milan court said he should be deported at the end of his sentence.

The ECHR ordered Italy to block the deportation while it considered if sending him home would breach his human rights.

However the Italians rightly defied this order and within months of finishing his sentence, Mannai had been put on a plane back to Tunisia.

Mannai is the sole person responsible for his deportation.

The Council of Europe has written to the Italian government, saying it is ‘deeply concerned’ by its actions, but questions need to be asked of The Council for Europe. Mannai is clearly a threat; he planned murder of innocents and would probably do so again.

The risk allowing him to stay was too great.
This isn’t the first time that Italy has taken this move; similar steps were taken in June 2008 when convicted terrorist Ben Khemais was also sent back to Tunisia.

At present for political reasons at home, the Home Secretary is currently negotiating with the Jordanian government to get assurances that Qatada would be given a fair trial.

It is not the sphere of Britain to be judge of the judiciary of another country.

We have a weak political class because of the racism tag that is allowed to run through Britain; used by political parties and certain groups to target people and politicians for their advantage.

Extremist preacher Abu Qatada represents a continual threat to people in Britain from all walks of life and religions.

He should be deported and everyone who thinks that Britain is a safe haven for terrorists should get a wake up call, you won’t be escaping justice.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University